I'm not sure I understand this 'poor scientists' logic, if...

I'm not sure I understand this 'poor scientists' logic, if anyone was sitting on an asset that for 7 cents investment could be instantly converted to 14 cents you'd find a way surely - credit card, bank loan, mortgage extension etc. It'd be very poor financial advice to let them lapse and the 'poor scientists' aren't going to be holding millions of shares each so the sums they need aren't ridiculous. Any chance that those senior exec types who receieved millions of options failed to meet the vesting criteria before leaving the company? As for Joe, if he's got more than 6 million and can't afford to convert, you'd hope Mark or one of the other board members might be kind enough to help out with a short term loan to facilitate conversion after which he can sell and pay them back? It's his ideas and work that the whole company rests on after all?! And failing all of this is it illegal to sell these options to another party given they're unlisted? If not I'll buy a million for 8 cents if anyone is willing!